But it's Not Real
by cardwiz
Summary: My personal reaction and reflection on my personal experience as a fan upon hearing about the death of Chris Benoit.


I'm not sure why I'm writing this here. It's not really a fanfiction, it's simply my gut reaction to finding out about the death of Chris Benoit. All of this is truthful and put together on a whim. So forgive any sloppy structure or spelling.

* * *

**_Monday, June 25, 2007 8:46 PM_**

"Man I'm so not looking forward to Raw tonight," says a disgruntled fan to himself as he drives hope from his final college interview. "What is going on with wrestling today, I used to love this sport when I was a kid. And now we have stories of Vince being 'murdered' and even practically ignoring the death of Sherri. Why do I watch this ? It's just a bunch of roided up freaks doing pathetic moves to each other,"

But as the young driver pulls into his drive, he remembers the first time he watched a wrestling match.

* * *

_**Monday, April 22, 1996 8:03 PM**_

A young redheaded boy is sitting in his best friends house wondering what he's doing here.

"Come on, do we have to watch wrestling? It all fake you know."

"Nuh uh, it's not fake, it's _scripted_." A boy with a flat top retorts.

"Like there's a difference." The red says to himself.

"Shut up, it's starting!"

"Gooood evening everyone, and welcome to Monday Night Nitro and we have what will go down as one of the greatest nights in the history of this business." An out of shape looking announcer chimes in.

"That's Tony Schivani, he says that on every episode."

"Like I care, just pass the pizza." The redhead says not caring.

A few minutes of hype about some wrestlers including some guy named The Giant, the redhead got to see his first match.

He saw to men going back in forth in the ring. Not doing generic scoop slams or stupid looking submitions like he had seen in commercials. These two looked like they might kill each other.

"What are they doing! That's not possible!" the redhead exclaims after seeing a hispanic wrestler just go threw the ropes at top speed, yet was able to blindly grab the middle rope to swing himself back in a single motion.

"That's Eddie Guerrero, he's good, but he's a dirty cheat." The friend says with bile in his voice.

"Who cares if he's the bad guy, this guy is amazing!"

"Just wait until the other guy gets back to work."

And get to work he did, this guy with the mullet who the announcers kept calling "The Canadian Crippler" just started to destroy the Guerrero guy's arm. Bit by bit he broke down his opponent. But it didn't seem like two men beating the heck out of each other. Everything seemed so, controlled, so organized. It was so real, but the redhead knew that it couldn't be.

* * *

_**Monday, June 25, 2007 9:03 PM**_

"Just in time to see that last hour," he says as he turns on his televition to see Chavo Guerrero Jr. staring him in the face with a simple backdrop.

'Crud, they are continuing the Vince is dead story,' he thought

"…It was just so amazing to watch our kids play together…" the wrestler on the screen said.

'Our kids? Either Chavo is a lot older than I thought or… what's that in the bottom corner…oh God'

A small little picture faded into the frame for a few seconds. A picture of the Rabid Wolverine with two simple words. _Remembering Benoit_

"Oh my God, this can't be real. I can't believe Vince would sink this low for ratings. First 'blowing himself up' and now killing off Benoit! WWE's sunk to a new low."

But after a few seconds of listening to Chavo's words…and seeing the tears on his face. "Oh no, oh no no no no. It-it can't be?" and even more senceless chatter uttered from his lips trying to convince himself that it wasn't real. That it was just a bad dream.

Tears ran down his face. 'I'm crying. Why am I crying. This is all just fake. It's not real. It can't be real.'

The young man ran to his computer. Looking to the 'dirtsheets' for some news that this is just a storyline that would make Vince Russo proud. But site after site just confirmed his darkest fears.

Chirs Benoit.

The Canadian Crippler.

The Rabid Wolverine.

The Greatest.

Was gone.

* * *

**_Monday, April 22, 1996 8:14 PM_**

"Oh my God! That Crippling guy just grabbed Eddy and tossed him back onto his head! He's gotta see a doctor or something!" the redhead said in a panic.

"Calm down, that was a dragon suplex and watch. 1, 2, 3. See the match is over. Benoit wins and Eddy is getting up."

All the boy could think of was seeing that mans head bounce of the mat. And that guy who did it, whatshisname. Crippler. Man, that guy is so cool.

'This will be my guys,' the boy says to himself, 'I'm going to watch this guy do all these amazing things every night. Oh boy, I can't wait till next Monday.'

And from that moment on, the redheaded boy who had scoffed at the very idea of fake wrestling would find himself fixed in front of the television every Monday night to watch matches with some of the most amazing talent. Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Rey Mysterio Jr., Booker T, Scott Steiner, and his favorite The Crippler Chris Benoit.

* * *

RIP Chris, Nancy, and Daniel Benoit.

And thank you Chris for all the years of entertainment. Thank you for putting your life on the line every week. You will be missed.


End file.
